Garter



J. M. VAN HEUSEN.

GARTER. APPLICATION FILED Mln/28,1920.

1,357,929, Patented Nov. 2, 1920.

JOHN MANNING VAN HnUsEN, or BosroN, MASSACHUSETTS.

GARTER; l

` Lemme.y

To all whom t may concern.

.Beit known that I JOHN MNNING VAN HEUsnN, residing, at lBoston, in thecounty of Suffolk, State. of Massachusetts,have invented certainr newand useful Improvements in Garters; and I do herebyv declare thefollowing to be a full,'clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will appertains to make and use the same. y n inherent diiicultypresent in many types of garters at present in use, whereinV t e garterdepends, for its permanency of position, upon the pressure which itexerts .upon the leg, is that to a greater or less eX- any tendency towork downwardly and which, in its preferred form, will. even tend towork upwardly on the leg, so that the permanency of position of thegarter will not depend upon the usual restrictive pressure of thecustomary ki'nd.A

, ln the practice of the invention, the ob-V ject proposed is attainedby the use of aj fabric, such as velvet or velveteen or the like,wherein the pile or filaments of the fabric, whenin contact with thebare leg or drawers leg of the wearer will resist downward travel. Infact, as hereinbefore indi-4 cated, a garter made of or provided'withpile fabric so arranged that when the garter encircles the leg the pilefilaments will be directed downwardly, has an actual tendency to travelupwardly. The resultant effect is .that not only is it feasible toobtain a sulfi- `ciently Veffective frictional grip between the I garterand the leg withoutthe necessity of drawing the garter.'l at all tightlyabout the leg, but the garter likewise has a constant tendency to keepthe hose, or half hose, as

, the case may be, unwrinkled.

lin some instances, the velvet, velveteen,-

or other appropriate pile fabric may constitute the entire'main bodyportion of the garter, or -it may have elastic threads or elastic cords`or elastic fabric sections associated therewith, so as to impart someminor degree of elasticity to the garter as a whole should that bedesired. Moreover, as will hereinafter appear, 'the pile fabric may bemore or less permanently attached to the Specification of LettersPatent. Application mea may 2s, 1920. serial No. 3754.374.

' leg of the wearer in the use of the Patenteanovj. 2, 1920.

hose or halfhose,*or it may constitute an entirely separate garter.

Referring now to the accompanying drawlng illustrating, severalembodiments of my invention;

Flgure l is -a view showing one form of the improved` garter as attachedto the upper inner'edge of a sock or stocking; enable others skilled inthe art to which it,l

Fig. 3 shows another modification inv which elastic portions arecombined with the garter;

Fig. fi shows a further modificatio'n as'l applied to a well-known typeof garter;

lEig. 5 shows a still further modification in which the garter isprovided with pile fabric on both vsides v lfig. 6 is an enlargedsection on the line 6 6 of. Fig. 4;

v Fig. 7 is a sectional view on a much enlarged scale, through a knownkind of vel-v vet, in which theple of the velvet is at an acute angle tothe body portion thereof.

Referring now to Fig. l, 1 .indicates a sock or stocldng, to the innerYupper edge of which the garter 2, provided with the velvet, velveteen orlike pile fabric surface 3, is attached. The pile of the fabric is shownat 4 and it will be noted that it inclines downwardly and inwardly. Thenumerous small filaments or threads of theI pile fabric engaging the legor drawers leg of the wearer at an acute vangle provide frictionalcontact between the garter and the leg suiiicient to obviate anynecessity of'drawin'g the garter otherwise than snugly (but not tootightly) around the leg in order that it may perform its function.Consequently, the important advantage isv obtained that there is noconstriction of circulation in the garter.

It has been found by actual test that with a garter made of pile fabric,the expansion and contraction of the muscles ofthe leg encircled by thegarter react in such manner as to exert an actual tendency for thegarter to work upwardly. It should, -of course, be understood, that thistendency, arising from the action of the many short threads forming thepile fabric, is not so marked or so strong that itwill impose anexcessive upward pull on the hosiery or one that would becomeuncomfortable. It is, however, strong enough to effectively hold up thesock or stocking.

Fig. 2, shows a mans garter, provided with the usual sock-engagingdevice 6, and a catch 7. The inside of the garter 5 is faced withvelvet, velveteen, or like pile fabric engaging the bare leg or thedrawers leg t of the wearer; or the garter may be made up wholly of pilefabric, with the pile on the inside. rlhe portions 8 of the garter towhich the supporting piece 9 is attached, may be made elastic, ifdesired.

eferring to the modification shown in F ig. 3, the garterthere shownconsists of a number of sections 10 which are either made of or faced onthe inside with velvet, velveteen or other pile fabric, the pile ofwhich inclines ldownwardly and inwardly with respect to the wearers leg.lln this case the' pile is indicated at 10. rfhis garter also comprisesone or more elastic inserts 8 suitably arranged so as to impart moderateelasticity to the garter as a whole.

The garter shown in Fi 4 consists of a body portion 11 which, asindicated in Flg. 6, comprises a piece of velvet, velveteen or like pilefabric 12, the pile 13 of which 1S on the inside. 'A piece of silk orsatin or the like 14C may be used to give an outer appearance of highquality and finish. rlhe sock holder 6 is supported by the cords l5,which engage with suspending buttons 1 and which may be elastic ifdesired.

Referring to F ig. 5,y a modification is shown in which the garter isprovided both on the inside and the outside with the velvet velveteen orother pile fabric, the pile of which, on both sides, inclinesdownwardly. The body of the garter is indicated at 17 while the pilethat inclines downwardly and inwardly is indicated at 18 and thepilethat inclines downwardly and outwardly is indicated at 19. 20 indicatesthe trouser leg of the wearer. The inner pile fabric 18 subserves thesame functions as the inner pile fabric in the other types. The outerpile fabric 19 is adapted to engage with the inner side of the trousersleg of the wearer in such manner that, due to the ordinary relativemovement and periodic contact between the trouser leg and the garter inordinary use, there is a tendency for the garter to engage with and bemoved upwardly by the trouser leg( The fact that the pile fabric 12inclines downwardly and outwardly provides such an engagement betweenthe pile fabric and the trouser leg. While, of course,

the trouser leg is not always in contact with the garter, it is quite,customary for men,

when sitting down to pull upthe trousers somewhat, whereby the garterwould also tend to be correspondingly raised; whereas', when the trouserleg moves downwardly, there is no engagement between the downwardlyinclined pile and the trouser leg and consequently no tendency to movethe garter downward.

Referring to Fig. 7, which is a diagrammatic section, on a much enlargedscale, of a known weave of velvet, the warp and Woof threads forming thebody of the velvet ma terial -are indicated at 21. and22. llfnterlacedwith these threads are a plurality of pile-forming threads 23, whichspread out into the' pile laments 24:, which incline downwardly at anacute angle to the body of the fabric.

While several embodiments of the invention are illustrated, it will beunderstood Athat it may be carried out in other ways than thoseillustrated. rlhe main characteristic feature of the invention isproviding a garter of the band-type with a suitable pile facing giving asucient degree of fric- 'I tional contact between the garter and the legofthe wearer, the nature of the frictional contact being such that thegarter in ,normal use, tends-to` work upwardly, while at the same time,offering a marked resistance to downward movement.

l claim:

l. A band garter, provided on its inner surface with pile fabricpresenting Contact filaments downwardly and inwardly inclined to the legor drawers leg of the wearer.-

2. A band garter, provided on its outer surface with pile fabricpresenting Contact,

filaments downwardlyand outwardly inclined to the trousers leg of thewearer.

3. A band garter provided on its inner surface with pile fabricpresenting contact filaments downwardly and inwardly inclined to the legor drawers leg of the wea-rer and presenting contact filamentsdownwardly and outwardly inclined to the trousers leg of the wearer. a

4. A band garterl of the construction defined in claim 1 and providedfurther with elastic elements forming a art of the band. In testimonywhereof I a x my signature.

JHN MANNING VAN HEUSEN.

